4 employee engagement survey pitfalls to avoid this year

HR departments have long looked to employee surveys for

guidance on engagement decisions.

Here are 4 mistakes that companies can make when rolling out their employee

engagement survey.

1. Vague questions

1. Vague questions

Questions that are too broad or general won’t return the specificity required to pinpoint where to focus your

engagement efforts.

1. Vague questions

Remember: Surveys are an essential component of your talent retention strategy so you need specifics to understand what will

keep your talent engaged.

2. Insignificant Topics

2. Insignificant Topics

Gathering actionable information requires employee engagement.

2. Insignificant TopicsFocus on topics that team members truly care about to inspire

thoughtful responses that can be leveraged for company improvements.

3. Lack of Participation

3. Lack of ParticipationAre you... • Keeping a survey open for too long or too short?

• Making it hard to take? or

• Introducing it at the wrong time?

3. Lack of ParticipationAre you... • Keeping a survey open for too long or too short?

• Making it hard to take? or

• Introducing it at the wrong time?

These all pose threats to hearing

from as many employees as

possible. After all, an engagement

survey should be, well, you know,

engaging!

4. Dishonest Answers

4. Dishonest AnswersYou want to set an expectation with employees that the survey is anonymous, confidential and should establish how the data will be

used.

4. Dishonest AnswersYou want to set an expectation with employees that the survey is anonymous, confidential and should establish how the data will be

used.

If you're committed to taking action after the survey, sharing results in real-time and involving employees in shaping the next steps, your survey stands its best chance to collect meaningful

insight.

4. Dishonest Answers

Without these steps, employees get scared which may result in them fudging the numbers.

More than anything, acknowledge that your survey is the first chapter in what must become a larger story.

Engagement is not an activity or a static measure - it’s a verb.

To see what lies ahead for you on the road to engagement this year, check out our Employee Engagement Roadmap.